Hook plate construction for bedsprings



1954 G. M. HARRIS HOOK PLATE CONSTRUCTION FOR BEDSPRINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 24, 1952 Jan. 19, 1954 G. M. HARRIS HOOK PLATE CONSTRUCTION FOR BEDSPRINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 24, 1952 INVENTOR,

Geo/ ye ZZZHCZ Patented Jan. 19, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I HooK PLATE. CONSTRUCTION FOR BEDSPRINGS George lVLHarris, Chicago, Ill. Application November 24, 1952, SerialNo'. 322,273 Claims. (01. 5-297 My invention relates to bedsprings, and more particularly to means for connecting them with bedsteads. While in some instances a bed is manufactured fully by one company, it has become the practice for some furniture companies to make, the bedsteads alone, while metal product companies manufacture springs designed to fit the bedsteads. Unfortimately, a standard of uniformity has not been attained along these lines, so that often the ends of the bedsprings will not fit the pieces of a'bedstead matched for the same. More specifically, the posts of the bedstead are made with vertical slots where they face the correspondingly located ends of the bedspring, and hook plates carried by such ends may be spaced nearer to each other or farther apart in relation to the spacing of the bedstead slots,

the bedspring which are attached for a positive support of the bedsprin'g while having lateral leeway to a limited extent to become alined with the slots of the bedstead posts;

Another object is to provide'a' carrier for each hook plate which is of rigid channeliform'and readily secured by'rivets or other suitable'mean's to the ends of the bedspring. 6

An additional object is to provide'a carrier for each hook plate whichpermits the latter to be folded within the limits of the bedspring, so as I not to extend fromthe same as an impediment to the packing or storage'of the bedspringor'as an interfering projection.

A still further object is to so design the end construction of the bedspring' as to furnish a space for accommodating the hook plates in folded form, and to further provide means for tying the hook plates fastin such event.

An important object is to accomplish theabove results by means of an assemblywh'ich'has few and simple parts designed to render themanufacture of the improved bedspring economical.

With the above objects in View, a better understanding of the inventionmay be'had refer- V v ence to the accompanying drawings, in"which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bedspring in assembling relation with the corresponding end piece of a bedstead;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the bedspring on a larger scale and partly broken away, fragments of the bedposts being indicated by short dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the showing in the left-hand portion of Fig. 2, with the bedpost shown in section;

In accordance with the foregoing, specific reference to the drawings indicate the side rail of a typical bedspring at II and the end rail at H.

Each of these rails is of angle form opening downwardly, and with the downflange l2 on the outside. Bedsprings of the type under consideration are in thenature of a unitary frame containing a network of springs I5; and the bedspring receives its support from the end pieces it of the bedstead.

' Each end piece l6 has a pair of terminal posts I8; and these have the slots it previously mentioned in the faces opposite the ends of the bedspring. The bedposts I8 have the usual crosspins 20 which intersect the slots l9 and are designed to be engaged by the hook plates 2! at the corresponding ends of the bedspring when the latter is assembled with the end piece.

While a bedpspring of the character mentioned usually carries rigidly attached hook plates for application as stated, the improved structure employs an attachment which disposes the hook plates with lateral play. Thus, the attachment at each corner of the bedspring is in the form of a vertical channel fitting 25 app-lied to open on the end of the bedspring. The outer flange 26 of thechannel fitting is considerably deeper than the inner flange If and isapplied to amply overlap the downfiange I2 on the side rail Hi; and the flanges 26 and i2 are securely riveted together, as indicated at 36.

While the channel fitting 25 is inherently of a rigid character, the spacing of its flanges 28 and 21 is insured by allowing the flange 2'? to overlie the edge, of a cutout 32 made in the top flange set at a slight angle.

of one or more of the pins 20.

"3 gathering influence as the rivet may have on the side flanges 26 and 21.

The hook plate 2| is of conventional design in its operative zone. However, its shank 40 is not extended or made with any means for direct attachment to a bed frame or bedspring. Such shank is simply perforated in the upper region, as indicated at 42. The position of the hook plate is normally with its shank within the channel fitting 25, as shown in Fig. 3; and'the rivet 38 passes freely through the perforation of the hook plate shank 46. Incidentally, the rivet need not be lodged tightly in the side flanges .zeand 21, as it may be of advantage for 'therivetto have the freedom of rotation.

The hook plate is of relatively thin plate-metal such as one-sixteenth inch-but the width of the slot 35 is approximately one-half inch, and the hook plate is therefore free to be moved'l'ater'ally along the rivet shank to the side limits of the slot, such movements being indicated by finelydotted'lines in Figs. 2 and 4. It is thus apparent, in case one end of a bedspring is about to beassembled with a matching bedstead piece,*th at-the two hook plates involved will have a combined.

extreme latitude of one inch in order to adapt themselves to the spacing of the bedstead-slots [9, as occasioned by the varying positions of the bedposts suggested by finely-dotted lines in Fig. 4. Considering that misfits in 'matching of the assembly components usually do not-exceed a half inch, the improved hook plate construction may be relied upon to meet any situation involving a misfit in the assembling of beds made up as described.

Situations also exist where the cross-pins 243 in bedstead posts are not vertically alined or are In such event, the improved hook plate, because of its free disposal on the rivet 36, is capable of a considerable angular as well as rotary motion, whereby it will adjust itself to the variation in the "position and angle It may be men tioned at this time that the rectangular form of the channel fitting 25 favors the square fit of the channel base against the receiving face of the bedpost l3, making for a more rigid fit between the bedspring and the bedsposts.

The pivotal suspension of each hook plate 2|, as described above, also renders the hook plate rotatable in a direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3 to a position indicated by finely-dotted lines in such figure, this position placing the hook plate fully within the confines of the channel fitting and bedspring. The upper hook of the hook plate is made with an aperture 45 which now comes in line with a similar aperture 45 made in the lower part of the longer flange 26 of the channel fitting. Fig. 3 shows by means of finely dotted lines that a wire 43 has been applied to tie the hook plate and flange 26 together, so as to keep the hook plate in the retracted position. The bedspring thus will have no projecting hook plates to catch on objects, making packing and storage of the bedspring difiicult, or become bent when setting the bedspring down on end. The tie wire as may be replaced by a simple bolt and nut if desired. As to the provision of room'for the full retraction of the hook plate as described, the ordinary assembly of the bedspring railssuch as with the ends of the rail l l abutting the downflange l'i-vmuld not provide the room. Such room is made in the present case, however, by terminating the rail I 1 short of the downflange, as indicated at 59 in Fig. i, so that a space'occurs between the end rail II and the downflange 12. Room is therefore made for the full internal travel of the hook plate as described.

It is now apparent that the novel hook plate construction supplies a solution to the assembly of misfit bedsprings and bedsteads contended with when these units are manufactured by or received from different sources. As previously stated, the intention maybe to have prescribed sizes of assemblycomponents fit without special effort or skill, but the fact remains that misfits are found so often that the process of fitting components intended for each other is frequently injterrupted or delayed, resulting in disadvantages to the dealer and customer. The novel hook 'ja'late'construction therefore solves the problem fully, insuring the fitting of the bed components in every instance where they are of matching size. .fAt the same time, the hook plates are strongly attached to the bedspring, so that they insure the-proper'and rigid support of the same between the bedsteads. Finally, the development of thedevice involvesonly the channel fitting 25 and the rivet 35 as'additional parts, these are so simple as to render the manufacturing'cost of the improved bedspring only slightly greater than that of an ordinary bedspring.

While I have described the invention along specific lines, various minor changes or refinements may be made therein without departing from its principle, and I reserve the right to employ all such changes and refinements as may come within the scope and spiritof theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A support for a hookplate designed to pro ject :from the corner portion of a bedspring frame for application to a bedspost, comprising means attaching the hook plate to the frame, suchmeans permitting the lateral adjustment of the hook plate relative to the frame, said means comprising a vertically-positioned channel-fitting secured with its opening facing the frame, the base of the fitting having a vertical slot, the hook plate having an inner portion within the fitting formed with a perforation, and a 'rivet spanning the flanges of the fitting and passing freely through said perforation, an outer portion of the hook plate passing through the slot to project from said base.

2. A support for a hook plate designed to project from the corner portion of a bedspring frame for application to a bedpos't, comprising means attaching the hook plate to the frame, such means permitting the lateral adjustment of the .hook plate relative to the frame, said means comprising a vertically-positioned channel-fitting se curedwith its opening facing the frame, the base of the fitting having a vertical slot, the hook plate having an inner portion within the fitting formed with a perforation, and a rivet spanning the flanges of the fitting and passing freely through said perforation, an outer portion of the hook plate passing through the slot to project from saidbase, the hook plate being rotatable on the rivet to retract said outer portion to a position inwardly of said base.

3. A support for a hook plate designed to project from the corner portion of a bedspring frame for application to a 'bedpost, comprising means attaching the hook plate 'to the frame, such means permitting the lateral adjustment of the hook plate relative to the frame, said means co1nprising a vertically-positioned channel-fitting secured with its opening facing the frame, the base I l of the fitting having a vertical slot, the hook plate having an inner portion within the fitting formed with a perforation, a rivet spanning the flanges of the fitting and passing freely through said perforation, an outer portion of the hook plate passing through the slot to project from said base, the hook plate being rotatable on the rivet to retract said outer portion to a position inwardly of said base, and means to fix the hook plate for application to a bedpost, comprising means attaching the hook plate to the frame, such means permitting the lateral adjustment of the hook plate relative to the frame, said means comprising a vertically-positioned channel-fitting secured with its opening facing the frame, the base of the fitting having a vertical slot, the hook plate having an inner portion within the fitting formed with a perforation, a rivet spanning the flanges of the fitting and passing freely through said perforation, an outer portion of the hook plate passing through the slot to project from said base, the hook plate being rotatable on the rivet to retract said outer portion to a position inwardly of said base, and means to tie the hook plate in the retracted position to a flange of the fitting.

5. A support for a hook plate designed to project from the corner portion of a bedspring frame for application to a bedpost, comprising means attaching the hook plate to the frame, such 6 means permitting the lateral adjustment of the hook plate relative to the frame, said means comprising a vertically-positioned channel-fitting secured with its opening facing the frame, the base of the fitting having a vertical slot, the hook plate having an inner portion within the fitting formed with a perforation, and a rivet spanning the flanges of the fitting and passing freely through said perforation, an outer portion of the hook plate passing through the slot to project from said base, the hook plate being rotatable on the rivet to retract said outer portion to a position inwardly of said base, said corner portion comprising a side angle bar receiving a crossangle bar endwise in spaced relation, and the hook plate being rotatable on the rivet to retract said outer portion to a position inwardly of said base and locate said inner portion in the space between said cross and side angle bars.

GEORGE M. HARRIS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

